The "not in my back yard" (NIMBY) reaction by communities across the State to the establishment of travellers' halting sites has resulted in many local councillors being loath to implement a programme which they believe will be manifestly unpopular.
Now, however, with the passing into law of the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, councillors are being told that if they fail to grasp the nettle the responsibility will be taken from them and passed to local authority housing managers.
In bringing forward the legislation, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, had made it clear that the issue of travellers' accommodation would be tackled. Either the councillors decided where they wanted the halting sites or the decision would be made for them.
And these "unpopular decisions" will likely see the sites being populated at about the same time as residents prepare to vote in next year's local elections. However, councillors are receiving little sympathy either from Mr Dempsey or the Opposition. Mr Alan Dukes TD, the Fine Gael spokesman on the environment and local government, said: "There will be a hell of a lot of indigestion and not a lot of general acceptance of the problem. "There's also likely to be friction between county councils. The good ones which have already established a halting site programme, being thought to have a reasonable travellers policy, tend to get more than their share. Councillors who have avoided their responsibility may simply hand over their responsibility to the county manager - especially in an election year.
"But there is no comfort for them anyway. They can do the responsible thing, but if they don't, something worse - or seemingly worse in the eyes of the public - may be done by the county manager."
Mr Dukes said he was aware of the NIMBY attitude, but added: "By definition the travellers will have to be accommodated in proximity to medical, educational and even shopping facilities, and that means close to houses. Or in a rural area that means close to towns."
Broadly welcoming the new Act, Mr Dukes said the provision of the section empowering councillors to decide on the location of the sites was worthwhile. "There has been a tendency to deprive councillors of power; in this sense they have been castrated. If they accept the reality, this will give them back power."
Mr Dukes added that he hoped to see the provision to pass the responsibility to local authority managers being rescinded "after this year, if councillors will decide to get in front of the change".
The Act has also been broadly welcomed by the former Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, the Democratic Left TD for Wicklow, Ms Liz McManus, under whose administration it was drafted.
"I was the chairwoman of the Task Force on the Needs of the Travelling Community and then went into government as the Minister for Housing, so I knew that the real problem was a failure to make decisions. One of the things I regretted about leaving office was that the legislation was not out by then, so I welcome that the current Minister has taken it on board."
Her party colleague, Mr Eamon Gilmore TD, a member of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, said that communities opposed to travellers' halting sites were missing a "very pertinent" point in the new legislation.
"Under the Act it will be illegal for travellers to halt on the side of the road or public space within a mile of an existing halting site. While the number of bays and size of a halt will be limited, travellers will not be able to overcrowd or line the streets surrounding a site.
"In this way a community with a halting site will actually not have the problems associated with many of the larger encampments which we have seen in recent years."